If all goes well, if the resource is there and if the data continues to be good, these licences will not remain exploratory forever. The goal is to eventually have a commercial fishery.
I raised a question about licences, and I think Mr. Bernatchez raised it as well. Could the Department of Fisheries and Oceans prevent the transferability of exploratory or commercial licences and retain them when a fisher retires, then redistribute them to fishers in struggling fleets, fishers in difficulty or new fishers? Wouldn’t this be a way to counter the surge in fishing licence prices?
We see this as a good opportunity for the department to do things differently with regard to these licences.